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Saturday, March 31, 2012

I have been struggling mightily with the fact that I will be leaving my cats alone while I go off, traipsing about the countryside. They were to be cared for by one of my land mates but still, it isn't the same as having someone living here, with a lap and all.

Two things happened yesterday. First I went into a local pet store to buy a cat box scooper-outer. Cheap- two bucks. I am embarrassed to say that I left the store with the scooper, as well as a cat tree.

Now, I have been a cat owner for most of the last 30 years. During these decades I have declined to buy my cats one of these contraptions, mostly on the grounds of cost - they are expensive! But yesterday I was filled with... what? Remorse? Guilt? I don't know but by the time I checked out I found myself buying the biggest, ugliest cat tree I could find. The cats love it!

Additionally, I just found out I will have a cat sitter for the five or six months I will be gone. The relief I feel cannot be overstated. This is a good situation for me, the cats and my new cat sitter. Everyone gets their needs met and I have less to worry about. There is such a thing as trail magic! Even before I hit the trail.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

This photography thing has been a struggle for me lately. I have been trying to make this iPhone do everything I need, but the process has been making me sort-of crazy. In this vein I have decided to try and make one of my walking sticks into a mono pod. This helps me hold the phone/camera steady while I am being creative and hopefully, interesting in my image production.

So here is the process

First I drilled a small hole all the way through to the shaft below. Second I drilled a larger hole in the top of the grip to give the epoxy a good place to fill, and hopefully hold.

Then I took a bit of wood and drilled a hole, epoxying the rod into it. The black tape is to protect the threads.

I pushed the wood (and the screw) up into the grip from beneath and made it ready to epoxy in place.

So there we have it. Threads I can screw my phone/camera onto, making a steady holder for the beast. I added the wing nut to protect the threads and the small string to make it harder to lose the nut when not on the top. This added .4 ounces to one of my walking sticks.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hi all. I just experienced the greatest day. Angela and friends put together a going away party for me and a fund raiser for the City of Hope. Today we raised more than $650 buck-a-roonies for the City of Hope, in honor of my friends Lisa and Chris. Great people, sun, no rain, good food and times. How much better can it get? Here's a photo of the green stuff... checks underneath!